November, Volume III: The Voice on the End of the Phone

November #3

by Matt Fraction, Elsa Charretier (Contributor)

Three strangers entangled by fate, coincidence, and cruelty find themselves bound together at the end of the longest night of their lives against the dark forces of...well-fate, coincidence, and cruelty. Apart, none of them will see the sunrise; together they might have a shot, in this thriller by MATT FRACTION and ELSA CHARRETIER , with colors by MATT HOLLINGSWORTH and stunning hand-crafted lettering by cartoonist KURT ANKENY .

One night. One city. Three women. NOVEMBER .

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Crime, Noir, Mystery, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

80 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 2020

About the author

"How he got started in comics: In 1983, when Fraction was 7 years old and growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he became fascinated by the U.S. invasion of Grenada and created his own newspaper to explain the event. "I've always been story-driven, telling stories with pictures and words," he said.

Education and first job: Fraction never graduated from college. He stopped half a semester short of an art degree at Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri in 1998 to take a job as a Web designer and managing editor of a magazine about Internet culture.

"My mother was not happy about that," he said.

But that gig led Fraction and his co-workers to split off and launch MK12, a boutique graphic design and production firm in Kansas City that created the opening credits for the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."

Big break: While writing and directing live-action shoots at MK12, Fraction spent his spare time writing comics and pitching his books each year to publishers at Comic-Con. Two books sold: "The Last of the Independents," published in 2003 by AiT/Planet Lar, and "Casanova," published in 2006 by Image Comics.

Fraction traveled extensively on commercial shoots. Then his wife got pregnant. So Fraction did what any rational man in his position would do -- he quit his job at MK12 to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time comic book writer.

Say what? "It was terrifying," said Fraction, who now lives in Portland, Ore. "I was married. We had a house. We had a baby coming. And I just quit my job."

Marvel hired Fraction in June 2006, thanks largely to the success of his other two comics. "I got very lucky," he half-joked. "If it hadn't worked out, I would have had to move back in with my parents.

- 2009. Alex Pham. Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

". . . a damp, drizzly November of my soul"--Herman Melville

Huh, I thought this was a trilogy, but now I see there is a fourth volume in my queue scheduled for February 2021. Never mind, as I am now (getting) hooked. This tale is a mystery, mysteriously noir, involving three women in one night in dreary November whose lives seem fated to collide. Essentially an exercise in noir style, where Matt Fraction's plot is secondary to Elsa Charretier's artwork or even Matt Hollingsworth's colors (a different scheme for each of the three [to-be] intersecting stories), some readers seemed impatient from the start for action or coherence--what the hell is going on??!--and this state of confusion/impatience continues into the second volume.

But, rewards come to the patient, to those who only stand and wait, as the off-the-rails violence begins to come like the inevitable slowly developing swirl of a hurricane. Strip club, police dispatch, street, guns, and always the night, and the link between these three women seems to be a man--surprise--that is causing all these cards to fall, on to each other, one by one.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I'll be upfront and say that my review of this book is tainted. I sat down to read the final volume of a trilogy, as touted on the back cover of the first volume. I re-read volume one, then charged on through volumes two and three in the same afternoon. And while I enjoyed the twisty ride here in volume three, I was disappointed that a lot of plot elements seem unaddressed as I came to the last page. I thought, well, I suppose that's a good enough ending anyway.

Then I swipe through the final pages of creator bios and publishing information and come to "Next: The Mess We're In"

Huh?

I swipe again and there's the back cover, and in tiny print on the bottom it says, "Volume III of IV."

Huh?

Where's that first volume again? What did it say on the back cover? Yes. "In the first of a sequence of three graphic novellas . . . "

Wait, what did volume two say? Front cover, nothing. Back cover? I didn't even look at it before. Tap, tap, tap, swipe, swipe. "In this second of four graphic novellas . . . "

Aw, crap. I've been messed with.

Oh, well, at least now maybe I'll get a better ending next time. But I probably won't re-read everything again, 'cuz maybe there will suddenly be a fifth volume.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series was supposed to be in three issues, but ended up being four, and now we can see that the ideal pagination would have been 3.5 issues, and that Fraction stretched the story to fill in the gaps instead of condensing it. Not sure that was the right choice.

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review vol. 1-3

Ak človek nezostane odradený prvým volume, kde je príbeh rozdelený do troch rôznych časových úsekov a miest s tromi ženami, kde sa poriadne nič nevysvetlí, tak za odmenu dostane v ďalších dvoch krásne prepletenie ich osudov. Vlastne všetky booky sú porozdelované aby ukázali, čo sa s hrdinkami dialo. Dobré je, že vôbec mi to neprišlo zmätočné, krásne do seba začalo všetko zapadať.
Ak niekoho odrádza kurzíva v komiksoch, tak tu je jej fakt veľa, a pri niektorých textoch je ťažšie zo začiatku rozoznať, či ide o F/L/1/I a podobne, ale po čase sa do toho človek dostane.. Kresba je dokonalá a skvele doplnená parádnymi farbami. Teším sa na pokračovanie, lebo tento krimi/mystery/noir ma fakt bavil.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

November reaches a bloody conclusion in this third volume. Kay has a long, dark conversation of the soul, leading her to where Dee and Emma-Rose are being held. We also get a bit of Dee's grim backstory as she struggles to escape. The noir vibes are strong with this one - no rays of light from Emma-Rose here.

The collapse of the evidence locker scheme is highly engaging, but I'm realizing that I don't really understand the scheme. Or how all these police officers (and Kay) got wrapped up in it. Or why it fell apart. And all that stuff about radio codes seems to have been longgg forgotten. Oh well, this November ride is pretty fun, even if it's not tied up with a bow.

[Justin Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

“And so, somewhere between him threatening to kill me and the end of the goddamn world, it comes down to this:

I’m beaten up, tied up, and thinking about the last time I saw Maggie alive. She’s mouthing something to me on the other side of a glass windshield.

“Don’t die.” Okay, baby. Okay.”

I mean, hell yeah?

I was kinda hoping that the back half of these would be the real deal and this volume 3 makes a pretty damn good case for it. For all its layering and showing us slice by slice a whole tapestry of narrative, I’m shocked at how much this one packs into a page.

Also shocking in a great way, Fraction directly addressing addiction and self-destruction once again. Genuinely did not expect this to be the spiritual successor to Casanova, but Pa-Zow, I’m real glad it is.

This might be the best looking one too. I think the fluidity of the artwork and lettering melds the best here and we still get all these tremendous scene set ups from Charretier and Hollingsworth throughout. Im almost sad to be almost done with these.

I went in expecting one thing (a lot of the press for this made it sound like a sort of drama) but ended up getting something entirely different. That’s always the best.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slight dip in interest in this volume but I’m expecting the whole 4-volume experience to be killer, once I’ve read it all.

[Jasna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the last two... Becoming more of a page turner. Still suffering from same artistic and lettering issues, and still kind of a story mess, but actually looking forward to the following (final) volume.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review for all four volumes of November by Matt Fraction
November is really best considered as a graphic novel in four parts - none of these sections make any sense on their own, but if you just cannonball through the entire thing, it makes for one hell of a crime story. Dee is a junkie who gets a very weird job that pays her $500 in cash every day to turn on a light. Shady? Absolutely. And of course, one day, the light doesn't go on, and suddenly everything turns incredibly sideways for her, for an innocent bystander, and for a 9-1-1 dispatcher who catches the wrong call at the right time. It all moves so fast that it'll take you about as much time to read this entire thing as it would to read your average 128-page book, honestly. But it crafts a crime story that's super gritty and super compelling. I often see a lot of graphic novels that were clearly written just so they could be made into a movie. But this one? This one, I really wish they'd do it.

[Michael Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

TCM Noir Alley host Eddie Muller has defined the noir genre as “suffering with style.” Artist Elsa Charretier’s style provides the perfect atmosphere for this dark hardboiled tale of three women caught in a cobweb of corruption. Matt Fraction’s storytelling is nonlinear and from multiple perspectives, so it really helps to read all four volumes together as much as possible for a fully engaging read.

[Oli Turner]

Great style and tone. Abstract in places at the beginning but it all comes together in the end. Three or four interconnected stories told in a non-linear fashion. A good little neo noir tale of police corruption, coincidence and conscience. With art that reminds me of Eduardo Risso in the best way with a little touch of darwyn cooke

[Joseph B · Rating 4 out of 5]

November's penultimate volume intersects the lives of its three protagonists while moving the main plot to the endgame. Fraction expands on the backstory of Dee greatly, while former cop Kay tries to right the wrongs of her past. The art is as excellent as the previous volumes. This slow cooking noir storyline begins to pay off. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the story unfurls, and the characters (and the reader) begin to understand what's occurring, I find myself even more enamored with this book.

What Fraction and Charretier have dine is create a nifty little crime novel that feels inventive and surprising.

As I approach the last volume, I have very little idea as to where it goes next, But I'm quite keen to follow along and find out.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s at this point in Fraction’s impressionistic crime noir that I began to see it, perhaps, as a kind of modern Sin City. It’s also where I began to finally understand the push push of the narrative. I don’t know if it’s the work itself or my ability to comprehend it.

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the threads are coming together, and the back stories are filling out the texture. I still don't understand quite what is going on, but I'm much more forgiving of that with the huge amount of noir.

[Alex Sarll]

None of the light and shade of the second volume here, only urban grey and moral shadows, all dirty cops, bad decisions and people trying too late to make things right. Probably brilliant if you're one of the many who think Criminal is the best thing in comics, but I'm not.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything is coming to a head, all the pieces are falling into place. This was supposed to be a three book series and it turned into four along the way, and I think it shows a little, but it still works

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this volume despite having no recollection as to why I would have it in my collection of books to read, having not read the previous two volumes. Gritty and with good pacing. I wasn't a fan of some of the fonts but they suited the characters and action.

[John Funderburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I've really grown to like Charretier's art, but the book continues to be middle of the road for me. This one begins to pick things up a bit.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like, not love. But interested for the ending!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building to a crescendo, I was literally gasping for the final installment.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still can't remember what is happening, but it's compelling.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The limited neo-noir series from Matt Fraction, Elsa Charretier, and Matt Hollingsworth continues a-pace.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the other two but still kinda a mess. I hope the fourth volume gives us closure

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This floaty, flighty noir series keeps things buzzing with such minimalism that it's a breeze to read without the weight to ground the interwoven tails of crimes, chases, and setups.

[Steve Portigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

More progression in the story in this penultimate volume.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great, but I really wish they had just published it all at once as one book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trio connects.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story really starts coalescing as the three main characters find themselves coming together as a night of chaos approaches its climax.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm losing steam on the series. It was such a strong start. I'll read the next one, but it better be good.